News Archive

Home » News Archive » News from 09/07/05 to 09/16/05

Kanemoto Intrudes! Junior Class Collision!
September 16th, 2005

After the 3rd match of the show in Chiba today, New Japan Pro Wrestling's Koji Kanemoto invaded the ring! After the conclusion of the Sasaki and Murahama versus Hardkore Kidd and Bambikiller match, Kanemoto ran in and attacked Sasaki with a steel chair.

The ZERO1-MAX locker room cleared and chased the NJPW veteran Junior from the ring. Kanemoto then got on the microphone and said he's decided to give Sasaki what he's been looking for and accepts the challenge issued by ZERO1-MAX and Yoshihito Sasaki on Sepetember 11th.

Marufuji Default! Tag Partner KENTA is in!
September 14th, 2005

Sadly, NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji will be unable to participate in the upcoming "Perseverance" show, the tribute for Naohiro Hoshikawa, due to a injury to his knee. He instead will be replaced by fellow GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team partner, and current GHC Jr. Heavyweight - KENTA. Marufuji will be out of action for 2-3 weeks.

ZERO1-MAX in Real Japan! Otani on New Japan!
September 13th, 2005

Today at a hotel conference room in Tokyo, Real Japan Pro Wrestling announced it's second event, once again including Shinjiro Otani. Originally it was thought that Otani would re-match against Tiger Mask I but instead he will team in the main event tag match with The Tiger (Yoshihiro Asai) against Tastuhito Takaiwa and the "Shadow Tiger" of Michinoku Pro - Kagetora (SUWAcito). Otani said he was fine with the abrupt change in the Fight Card, but he mentioned that he thinks Tiger doesn't quite understand how dangerous an opponent Takaiwa is and he hopes to fill him in before the match happens later in the month.

Real Japan's "Business Launch - 2nd Show" takes place on September 26, 2005 at Korakuen Hall. President of the company, Tiger Mask (Sayama) will be taking on Masao Orihara in the Semi-Main event.

Osamu Namiguchi is also taking part on the show in the opening match, where he's facing Lasse of Michinoku Pro.

Shinjiro Otano also commented today on the confrontation the ZERO1-MAX roster had in the ring with New Japan. He said that the two promotions are not at war, simply that certain individuals within the companies have unsettled business. He specifically mentioned Yoshihito Sasaki's request after winning the "Tenka-Ichi" Jr. Tournament of facing the winner of the "Best of the Super J." He said now he'd like to see Koji Kanemoto fight Sasaki. He added that the entire ZERO1-MAX roster was present to back-up Sasaki and show the unity of ZERO1-MAX.

All Out War? ZERO1-MAX vs. New Japan!
September 11th, 2005

New Japan Pro Wrestling had a show last night at Sagamihara City Gym when after the main event of Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi against Takashi Iizuka and Hiroyoshi Tenzan, ZERO1-MAX Juniors Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Yoshihito Sasaki entered the ring to call out the NJPW Juniors.

The New Japan juniors came out, led by Koji Kanemoto. Takaiwa mentioned how when Yoshihito Sasaki defeated he and Takehiro Murahama in the "Tenka-Ichi" Junior tournament he offered a challenge to Wataru Inoue or other NJPW Juniors but it was never answered. Kanemoto wasn't intimidated and said he's always ready for a fight. Though he brushed off Sasaki's hand when offered to him.

Suddenly almost the entire ZERO1-MAX roster entered the ring led by Shinjiro Otani and Takao Omori! Otani was brandishing the "Fire Festival" katana. This was the first time Otani and Takaiwa had been in a New Japan ring since February 2001, and Otani showed his usual fire. The situation was tense for a little while with lots of pent up aggression in the ring, but the ZERO1-MAX fighters were able to extract themselves and get back on their bus before things got out of hand. This is only the begining, as there are already rumours of the impending collision between the promotions coming sooner than later.

If you might remember, back in May after the "Tenka Ichi" Jr. Tournament, Mr. Nakamura stated that he would like to meet with NJPW's President Simon Inoki to set up a meeting between Sasaki and NJWP's winner of the "Best of the Super J." At this Sasaki said that he hopes that Wataru Inoue wins the tournament because he trained with Inoue at the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo while they were starting out as pro-wrestlers. Check the May 30th past news for the story.

Hidaka & Fujita Victorious in Dragondoor!
September 9th, 2005

The Dragondoor "Los Conquistadores" show took place at Korakuen Hall today where ZERO1-MAX fighters and current NWA International Lightweight Tag champs, Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka, teamed with Taiji Ishimori in a 6-man tag to defeat "Aagan Iisou" - Brother YASSHI, Shuji Kondo and Takuya Sugawara. Fujita scored the pin with a modified DDT on Sugawara in a little over 19 minutes.


Dragondoor "Los Conquistadores" - Main Event:
Ikuto Hidaka o Minoru Fujita Taiji Ishimori	vs.	Brother YASSHI Shuji Kondo Takuya Sugawara x
(19:12 --> modified DDT)

After the victory for his team, Fujita announced to Aagan Iisou that if they have some spare time on their hands and want a re-match against he and Hidaka, they're welcome to come to ZERO1-MAX. Fujita also added that he would like to once again team with Taiji Ishimori as well.

Also appearing on the undercard was Osamu Namiguchi teamed with Lambo Miura against DDT's Ibushi Kota and Toryumon X's Milanito Collection AT. Nami's team lost the match when Milanito pinned Miura in 17:04.

Hoshikawa Tribute Show - Sepetember 19th!
September 7th, 2005

On 9/19 at Korakuen Hall ZERO1-MAX will have a special tribute show to Naohiro Hoshikawa called "Perseverance." No better word describes what the ZERO1 fighter has gone through in the last year.

On October 17th, 2004 in Sapporo during a Jr. title cage match against the champion at the time, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Hoshikawa was seriously injured when he took a lariat across the eyes and fell back to the mat hitting his head. He suffered a serious brain injury that required a craniotomy and fell immediately into a coma. The doctors were not sure what would happen, and said there might be risk of paralysis but were very positive.

Over a month later, Hoshi finally awoke from the coma and his doctors highly praised his strength and recuperative powers. He was still very weak and needed to be fed through a tube, and at the time they were still not sure if he'd be partially paralyzed or have permanent brain damage.

But this is Naohiro Hoshikawa, fighting athlete, and Februrary 14th, 2005 he had recovered enough to be moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. Once again his strength and the pace of his recovery amazed his doctors, as it had been just 5 months since his injury.

As one would imagine, his treatment and recovery has been expensive so ZERO1-MAX is putting on this show to help alleviate some of his bills. Several outside fighters have joined the show:

•	Toshiaki Kawada (freelance)
•	Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH)
•	Wataru Sakata (HUSTLE)
•	Tiger Emperor (NOAH)
•	Takuya Sugawara
•	Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

Kawada will team with Takao Omori versus Team Emblem in the semi-main event. Wataru Sakata also returns to the promotion along with NOAH fighters Naomichi Marufuji and Tiger Emperor in the main event. As Hidaka, Fujita & Marufuji take on Takaiwa, Sakata and Tiger Emperor.

"Mr. Danger," Mitsuhiro Matsunaga will battle Kohei Sato in singles action.

Also on the card, gaijin juniors Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt will battle for the ZERO1-MAX US Openweight title now held up as former holder Spanky has returned to the WWE. The show will be held in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall and hopefully will draw a big crowd to support Hoshi.